41
SPRING 2018
[10]
With a changing alibi that raised
suspicions, Violet drank a silver
polish containing potassium
cyanide rather than face detectives
a fourth time. She collapsed and
died in the butler's pantry.
[8]
Was it an inside job? Subjects of
speculation are this British-born
maid as well as the nanny, the
butler, and even the family dog.
Recently fingered? Lindbergh
himself.
[9]
She offered a false alibi — the
movies — to hide the fact she'd
actually gone to a speakeasy in
Orangeburg, New York, called the
Peanut Grill. Today it is a Thai
restaurant.
VIOLET'S HANDKERCHIEF
Her journey ends in tears.
"You can imagine Lindbergh's maid, Violet Sharp,
[8]
packing this souvenir into her
suitcase as she left Britain on the RMS Aquitania for a new life across the Atlantic.
We've got the suitcase here in the archives too, as well as other personal effects
seized from her room. This was a young woman who told one little lie — where she
went on the night of the kidnapping
[9]
— that snowballed and drove her to suicide.
[10]
She's one of the most tragic figures in the whole story."
